The Sauber team to open an engineering center in the UK
The Swiss team is preparing for the arrival of Audi. To this end, it will open a new base in England. The move is designed to attract top talent from the motorsport valley and make the Audi project even more attractive.
Hope for Audi? As the German manufacturer will join the grid in 2026, there is already talk of preparing for this arrival. While Sauber has long rejected the idea of setting up in England, being one of the three teams, along with Racing Bulls and Ferrari, to have its headquarters abroad, it seems to have changed its mind. Indeed, the Swiss team has decided to open a base in England, more precisely in the southeast of the country, where the “motorsport valley” is located, which brings together the main factories of the F1 teams around Oxford and near the Silverstone circuit.
Sauber seeks to strengthen its popularity
The objective of establishing in England is clear: to try to attract the best engineers to Sauber by reaching out to workers already employed in teams around Silverstone, who will no longer need to go abroad. According to the Swiss team, this base, which will open during the summer, should allow the team to access the greatest expertise and the largest pool of talent in the world in motorsport and establish a platform to collaborate with the best experts and attract local engineering talent for the Audi F1 project. A decision that has delighted Mattia Binotto, the new head of Sauber Motorsport.
« We are delighted to establish our technical center in the United Kingdom to complement our main site in Hinwil, which will continue to lead our main engineering operations and experience the strongest team growth. Expanding to the UK allows us to remain close to one of the most dynamic motorsport ecosystems in the world. Our vision is to create a strong and collaborative network between Hinwil and the UK to foster innovation and performance. »
Furthermore, this new center will not be part of the budget cap imposed by the FIA, which will allow the Hinwil team to have a higher budget cap than in previous seasons due to the higher cost of living in Switzerland compared to England. Nevertheless, the team hopes that it will help give more visibility to a team that finished last in the Constructors’ Championship last season with only 4 points.
A similar organization but an even more ambitious project
Despite this decision, the structure will remain similar: the team’s headquarters will remain in Hinwil, Switzerland, while its engine department will stay at its location in Neuburg an der Donau, Germany. If Sauber’s arrival in England is confirmed, the best location for this new base still needs to be found. For now, the Swiss team, which will become Audi in 2026, has stated that it is evaluating potential sites in the ‘Motorsport Valley’, notably in Bicester, Silverstone, and Milton Keynes.
If this decision succeeds, Sauber will have a favorable geographical location by being close to the best engineers in the world. The Audi project thus seems to regain momentum and head in the right direction. It now remains to be seen if this will materialize on the track during the first Grand Prix in 2026.
